Talk about a hidden gem! Woman who unknowingly purchased three PICASSO plates for just $6 at a thrift store sells them for a whopping $40,000 at auction
- Nancy Cavaliere, 36, is an Italian immigrant who moved to New York as a child
- She went viral on TikTok after sharing how she found the plates at a thrift store
- The mom bought the set of four for $1.99 apiece and kept one for herself
Nancy Cavaliere, 36, is an Italian immigrant who moved to New York City with her family when she was seven years old. She is known as @casacavaliere on TikTok, where she shares videos of her incredible second-hand finds.
The thrift shopper went viral after she detailed how she stumbled upon the Picasso plates during a routine shopping trip in 2017.
'I'm about to tell you the wildest story of how I thrifted Picasso plates from Salvation Army and made a s**t load of money,' she said, setting the scene.
- Nancy Cavaliere, 36, from New York, went viral on TikTok after sharing how she unknowingly bought a set of four Picasso plates for $1.99 apiece at a thrift store in 2017
- She explained that she was on her way home from work when she made a pitstop in the thrift store. She was about to leave when she saw the plates
'I pursue the china aisle, which is always my first thought... I see nothing. I almost leave. I go back when they put out new stuff, and I see these sitting on the aisle,' she said of the plates.
She used the app's green screen function to share a photo of herself holding one of the plates in her hand.
'This is the actual picture from the thrift store that day,' she explained. 'As you can see, the plates say $1.99.'
Cavaliere, unaware of their value, initially planned on using them to make a tablescape until she saw Pablo Picasso's surname engraved on the back.
'Although I am very well-versed in art, furniture, period styles... I did not know Picasso made ceramics,' she said.
Picasso designed 633 different ceramic editions between 1947 and 1971, according to Christie's auction house, including plates, bowls, and vases.
The Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and a pioneer of Cubism.
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- Cavaliere, unaware of their value, initially planned on using them to make a tablescape until she saw Pablo Picasso's surname engraved on the back
- Pablo Picasso designed 633 different ceramic editions between 1947 and 1971, according to Christie's auction house, including plates, bowls, and vases
- Cavaliere admitted that when she went home and googled the 'visage noir' set to see how much they were worth, she almost 'passed out'
Cavaliere admitted that when she went home and googled the 'visage noir' set to see how much they were worth, she almost 'passed out.'
'I contacted all the auction houses in New York, Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, and I started talking to them to see how much they would sell them for and if they could authenticate [the plates] for me,' she recalled.
The video included footage of her talking about the plates with someone from an auction house.
'They are all hand done, as you can see, and they are editioned by alphabet,' she told the person. 'I have two L's, a G and an E.'
'They really are exceptional,' she said while looking back at the moment.
Cavaliere ended up auctioning three of the plates and keeping one for herself, which she has stored in a safe deposit box at a bank.
She told Newsweek the auctioneers estimated that the plates would sell individually for between $3,000-$5,000 each, but she ended up making far more than that.
In her video, she shared that one of the plates sold for more than $16,000, while the other two went for about $15,000 and $12,000, respectively.
- Cavaliere ended up auctioning three of the plates and keeping one for herself that was signed by the legendary artist, which she has stored in a safe deposit box at a bank
- One of the plates sold for more than $16,000, while the other two went for about $15,000 and $12,000, respectively. She made roughly $40,000 from the sale
Cavaliere pulled up a picture of the Picasso plate that she has stored in the bank, pointing out that it is hand-signed by the artist.
'[It's] crazy that I actually own something that Picasso signed himself,' she marveled.
The mom plans on selling the plate in 20 years and giving the money to her daughter to fund a once-in-a-lifetime trip across Europe, or whatever she wants to do.
'Go ahead, go thrift, go pick some garbage. May you find some crazy f*****g things,' she concluded.
The video has been viewed nearly 380,000 times and has received more than 1,200 comments since it was posted on March 25.
'The person who donated the plates coming across this video,' one person joked.
'I wonder if the people who donated it just like didn’t know or what???? So crazy,' another responded.
'I would totally buy that just thinking they’re cute lil guys and never realize,' someone else admitted.
Others were inspired to share their own thrift store hits and misses.
'I got Leonard Cohen['s] "Let us compare mythologies" signed [for] $2. It’s worth $30,000. I sold it right after I found it for $100. I haven’t slept since,' one user lamented.
However, the plates weren't the only treasures Cavaliere has thrifted over the years.
She told Newsweek that after she bought the plates she came across an Alexander McQueen jumpsuit from his second-ever collection.
Cavaliere bought it for $20 and sold it for a whopping $8,5000.
Source:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...thrift-store-ended-PICASSOS-worth-40-000.html
